He arrived just as the fight began, and seeking out General Putnam (who was already there) desired to be posted where the service was to be the most arduous. Putnam expressed sorrow at seeing him, in a place so full of peril; but since you have come, I will obey your orders with pleasure. Warren replied, that he came as a volunteer  not to command. Putnam requested his to take his stand in the redoubt, where Prescott commanded, On his entering the redoubt, he was greeted with loud huzzas; and Prescott, like Putnam, offered him the command. He again refused , saying, that he was a mere volunteer;..... When the British had twice been driven from the height, with a thousand slain; when the exhaustion of powder and ball, leaving the Americans no means of resistance but clubber guns against fixed bayonets and fourfold numbers, necessarily made the third onset successful. Warren was the last to leave his station....

Major Small, of the British army; recognized him, and eager to save his life called upon him for Gods sake, to stop, and be protected from destruction. Warren turned and looked towards him, but sickening at the sight and the thought of his slaughtered countrymen and the lost battle, moved slowly off as before. Major Small then ordered his men not to fire at the American General; but it was too late. Just as the order was given, a ball passed through his head, he fell and expired.

His body lay on the field all the next night. When one who knew his person, told General Howe the next morning that Warren was among the slain he would not believe it; declared it IMPOSSIBLE that the President of the Congress should have been suffered to expose himself so hazardously.

I thought of Warren the other day when I read in the Examiner that IRS was sending people into churches to discover whether political activity was going on. Warren gave the Boston Massacre commemorative speech in either ‘74 or ‘75 at the South Meeting House and Red Coat officers occupied the front row in a display of intimidation. Warren took out his handkerchief, leaned over and dropped it over the gun of one of them.

Elbridge Gerry was later Vice President of the United States and died in office--both of James Madison's Vice Presidents died in office. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 but refused to sign the Constitution because it lacked a bill of rights. He was also one of the US diplomats involved in the so-called XYZ Affair.

One of the British officers who died from wounds received in the battle of Bunker Hill was Major John Pitcairn, whose men had fired on the patriots in Lexington on April 19, 1775.

If you look at a map of Boston Harbor it is perfectly obvious the American forces on the Bunker/Breeds Hill peninsula could have been easily cut off by landing troops on the neck connecting it to the mainland, especially with heavy naval artillery support. The Americans would have been defeated and probably mostly captured with minimal British losses.

Instead, the British chose to attack straight into the American defenses, while wearing their full 60 pounds of gear, as an “in your face” show of contempt for the American rabble.

Drastically misfired and the enormous British losses were a huge boost for the Patriot cause despite the battle being lost.

Thanks for the post, gusopol3 and the ping, NonValueAdded. Ironic that today--the day that one of the greatest Patriots in American history gave his life for independence and freedom--the Supremes ended this country as a sovereign state. Anyone can and will vote now in our elections and I am afraid this is the battle that is our Yorktown in reverse. The decision today sickens me...and I hope I am wrong.

There are a lot of versions, obviously it was a frantic scene. I think one of the most interesting is attached to Paul Revere, silversmith. Warren was wearing an expensive blue coat; supposedly , the British burial detail “stuffed him in a hole,” an unmarked grave. Supposedly according to the account, Revere rowed over to the still British-occupied peninsula some weeks or months later, found the grave and identified the body by the fact that he had fashioned a dental bridge for Warren.

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